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June 6, 2003/Sivan 6 5763, Vol. 55, No. 41
Working part-time has benefits, sacrifices
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Working part time affords me the benefits of being a stay-home mom - and the disadvantages.
Since my husband and I had our first child, I've always found a way to work my schedule around being a mom. When my daughter was an infant, my husband worked during the day while I went to school in the evenings. When she was a toddler, a friend and I traded babysitting - she took all Tuesday/Thursday classes and I took Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. Once I graduated with my degree in education, I was a substitute teacher, two to three days a week, for two years. This gave me the flexibility to stay home when my daughter was sick and to help in her preschool classroom.
Her kindergarten year saw me teaching night school (it was rough getting up with her at 6 a.m., but I wouldn't have traded those afternoons alone together for anything).
Once the second child came along, I decided to stay home and open my own child-care business. It was challenging work, but I enjoyed being able to watch my baby grow into a bright, happy preschooler, along with the rest of my charges.
Then I found myself in my current position at Jewish News. Working 30 hours a week, 10 of those from home, I'm able to take my kids to school every day and pick them up. I can help in the classroom and chaperone field trips. And I can throw in a load of laundry while I interview important community leaders.
After school, when I take my girls to dance class, I have the chance to schmooze with the stay-home moms about education, parenting techniques, new restaurants and great shopping deals - something many working parents miss when the nanny drops off the kids and mom or dad simply pulls up and honks on their way home from the office.
Fortunately, I'm home to cook dinner every night (although sometimes I don't know if that's a blessing) and to read to my children before they go to bed.
And yet, I have the opportunity to be more than mother and wife, while still relishing both of those roles.
There is actually and opportunity to have relationships with adult people who are not parents. And I can converse about subjects other than child rearing - which, according to my childless friends, is something many parents can't do.
The downside? The recent Memorial Day weekend found me working on a story at 5:30 a.m. and 11 p.m. - with many family obligations in between. There's no leaving work at the office with this lifestyle.
Many days I wake up as stay-home mom, only to turn into working mom after I take the kids to school, returning to stay-home mom when they get out, and then becoming working mom again after they go to bed - not a lot of downtime, but what mom has downtime?
And there is some support. Some friends who also work part-time have formed an unofficial, occasional playgroup. Most playgroups meet in the morning while we're at work, so we schedule play dates later in the afternoon and less frequently. We also trade babysitting duties when necessary.
And we commiserate. We find that some career women don't take us seriously. There are stay-home moms who look down on us for being working women. But we know that while this life does require sacrifices on both fronts - career and family - it is possible to have the best of both worlds.
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
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